3 New Bills Just Signed into Law in Illinois

There was quite a bit of legislative activity in Illinois this week. Several bills were just signed into law and they cover a variety of issues involving food, technology and labor.

I saw a number of reports just shared today involving bills in Illinois that either are now the law of the land or scheduled to be. Here are 3 new laws in Illinois in no particular order:

Reuters reporting that Governor Pritzker signed into law what they describe as a business-friendly biometric privacy law. I'm no lawyer, but looking at the full text of the bill from the Illinois House of Representatives, it seems to limit damages on those that collect biometric data if a company is found to have collected it unfairly. It says "a private entity that more than once collects or discloses a person's biometric identifier or biometric information from the same person in violation of the Act has committed a single violation for which the aggrieved person is entitled to, at most, one recovery". This bill goes into effect immediately.
WIFR in Rockford, Illinois is reporting that Governor Pritzker also signed into law an elimination of the 1% grocery tax, but there's a catch. Local Illinois governments can choose to keep it if they so desire. This law goes into effect on January 1, 2026.
Yahoo News is reporting that Illinois has also overhauled its child labor laws. They say that it protects youth from predatory companies and greatly increases penalties if minors are injured or die on the job. These new laws go into effect January 1, 2025.